The Biden administration is leaning into ‘Bidenomics’ branding to help swing the election in Biden’s favor.
The marketing schtick, which plasters Biden’s name onto his economic policy, is a gamble given how many Americans are struggling financially.
Still, Team Biden seems all-in on Bidenomics as a lynchpin for winning reelection.
We won’t know for a year whether the gambit pays off, but some pundits are already bemoaning the move.
“How foolish is it to put your name on an unpopular policy?” asked Liz Peek in The Hill. “That’s what Joe Biden insists on doing, taking personal ownership of an economy that voters detest.” Peek continued, suggesting that Bidenomics was a perversion of the American Dream, that “Bidenomics seems like an ongoing nightmare.”
Peek has a point in that voters are not thrilled about the economy. As The Washington Post pointed out, Bidenomics is “great everywhere except in the polls.”
The Big Problem: Voter Perception of Bidenomics
Voters have not bought into Bidenomics quite yet. “The polls are brutal,” Peek wrote. “The [Washington Post] article cites a Bloomberg/Morning Consult survey from last month in which “Only 35% of voters in seven swing states trust Biden on the economy…with 51% saying it was better under Donald Trump.” Ouch.”
Of course, the 2024 election will hinge almost exclusively upon swing state voters – so, their perception of Bidenomics could prove crucial; that swing state voters are not impressed with Bidenomics should give the Biden administration pause, perhaps. Yet Team Biden is forging ahead, all-in on the Bidenomics marketing campaign.
“The Biden team clearly thinks they have a good story to tell,” Peek wrote. ‘They keep going back to the Bidenomics pitch, and marvel that it isn’t working. The president is like an American tourist speaking English in Paris who thinks that by waving his arms and talking louder and louder, he’ll somehow break through.”
Why the Bleak Mood?
While unemployment is low, and inflation has receded, voters still seem down on the economy, and accordingly, down on Bidenomics. It makes sense. Prices are up just about everywhere. I paid $6.30 per gallon of gasoline last week in California, which I’m still wrapping my head around. As Peek points out, the price of Halloween candy was up 13 percent this year (on top of a 20 percent hike last year); McDonald’s, long a working class bastion of affordable prices, recently raised their prices 10 percent; Pepsi products are up 11 percent, which marks the seventh consecutive quarter that the soft drink giant has initiated double-digit price increases.
Then of course you’ve got to factor in the housing market. The atrocious and demoralizing housing market. “If you’re a young family starting out and hoping to buy a home, you’re facing the worst affordability crisis in 40 years,” Peek wrote. “the cost of buying a home has skyrocketed, thanks to a shortage of houses for sale and the rate on a 30-year mortgage soaring to 8 percent.” Get this: “The monthly charge for an average-priced house has doubled since the end of 2020, while prices are up 23 percent.” Doubled since the end of 2020. Again, it’s hard to comprehend.
Car prices? Same story, with monthly lease charges up about 40 percent.
So, it’s no wonder so many Americans are down on the economy – something the Biden administration might want to consider more closely before intentionally making the Biden-brand synonymous with the contemporary economy.
Harrison Kass is the Senior Editor and opinion writer at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
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